GOP bashes Beshear, Harris at Fancy Farm as crowd is energized by school funding amendment

Signs hoisted by members of the Fancy Farm audience express conflicting views on the school funding amendment that Kentucky voters will decide in November, Aug. 3 2024, during St. Jerome Catholic Church Picnic in Fancy Farm. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Austin Anthony)

FANCY FARM — The stage at this year’s Fancy Farm picnic in West Kentucky was dominated by Republicans who used their speaking time to tee off on an absent Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear and Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman, sprinkling in attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris, who has locked up the Democratic nomination for president.

Only two Democrats, 1st Congressional District candidate Erin Marshall and Rep. Cherlynn Stevenson of Lexington, were among the 16 speakers Saturday at the St. Jerome Church parish picnic, famous for barbeque, rowdy political speeches and even rowdier crowds. 

Republican speakers, ranging from U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to local elected officials, honed in on the upcoming presidential election in a county that former President Donald Trump, this year’s Republican nominee, won by nearly 57 percentage points in 2020. 

“Politics is a lot like cooking,” McConnell said. “A bad recipe and you get a bad meal. Kamala’s recipe is simple. There are three things involved with her campaign: chaos, prices and incompetence.” 

Republican Attorney General Russell Coleman noted Beshear’s absence amid speculation that the governor is being considered by Harris as a potential running mate. Coleman chided Beshear for  “traveling all over the country auditioning to be vice president.” 

“But he won’t come to Fancy Farm,” Coleman said. “Friends, I really don’t know who she’ll pick, but I know it ain’t Andy.” 

A back-and-forth over Diet Mountain Dew between Beshear and Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance also made its way into Republican speeches. Daniel Cameron, the former Republican attorney general who lost last year’s governor’s race to Beshear, took the stage as a surrogate for Trump.

“The Democratic Party has gotten so weird that they want to tell you what soda to drink. They’ve gone from a ‘war on coal’ to a ‘war on Diet Mountain Dew,’” said Cameron. “But I got some good news for you: you don’t have to be burdened by what has been. The GOP is a big tent party. Whether you drink Ale 8, Mountain Dew, Ski or just plain water, there is room in the GOP for you.” 

McConnell and U.S. Rep. James Comer, the two federal elected officials who spoke on the Fancy Farm stage, took turns attacking Harris over inflation, border policy and her past call to ban fracking, a stance she recently reversed. 

“I’m always honored to share this day with my colleague in Washington, who will go down in history as one of the truly great U.S. senators ever,” Comer said, gesturing to McConnell. The senior U.S. senator said earlier on Saturday it was his 29th time attending the picnic.

McConnell echoed past attacks against Harris, saying she was the Biden administration’s “border czar” but “she played hooky on the border crisis.” Democrats have pushed back on the notion that Harris was given such a title or role by the administration.  

Republican Secretary of State Michael Adams also referenced Beshear’s ambitions to join Harris’ campaign, saying the Democratic governor “would be a good pick for national Democrats.” 

“Kamala Harris needs help with fundraising. And Andy Beshear can raise $200,000 off just one dude’s credit card,” Adams said, referencing a civil investigation by state campaign finance regulators into London Mayor Randall Weddle’s contributions to Beshear’s reelection campaign.

Beyond the Republican zingers, much of the energy from the crowd of onlookers was generated by opponents and supporters of a constitutional amendment on the ballot this fall that, if approved, would for the first time in Kentucky allow public funds to flow freely into nonpublic schools.

A few dozen people wearing red shirts bearing the logo of the Kentucky Education Association, the state’s largest union representing teachers, waved signs saying “Protect Our Schools in KY” and “No To Vouchers,” a reference to the possibility that the amendment would lead to taxpayer-funded vouchers to pay for private school tuition. Proponents of the amendment on the other side of the crowd waved large apple-shaped signs urging a “yes” vote. 

“To paraphrase Gov. Beshear, vouchers ain’t from here and we don’t need them,” said Rep. Cherlynn Stevenson, D-Lexington, speaking on stage. “This amendment is nothing more than a Hail Mary attempt to revive … voucher policies that Kentuckians don’t want, our students don’t need and the courts have faithfully blocked.” 

The Kentucky Supreme Court previously struck down a Republican-backed initiative to award tax credits for donations supporting private schools because the scheme violated the Kentucky Constitution, leading Republican lawmakers to put a proposal to change the Constitution on this fall’s ballot.

Rep. Suzanne Miles, R-Owensboro, who followed Stevenson on stage to speak for the amendment, told Stevenson that the emcee of the picnic, Father Jim Sichko, a priest from  Lexington, would have to have “confessional” after the speeches “for all the lies you just told up here.” 

“We no longer have a one-room school anymore,” Miles said. “They want to say it’ll harm public education. It may harm the systems, but it will not harm the teachers and the public education for every single child out there.”